With invite to Myanmar FM, BIMSTEC steps out of shadows, out of line with ASEAN

It is better to engage Myanmar rather than isolate the country, says Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary.

It is better to engage Myanmar rather than “isolate” the country, said Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary Admiral Jayanath Colombage (retired), explaining Colombo’s decision to invite Myanmar military administration’s Foreign Minister to the fifth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit this week.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders at the summit being held on “hybrid mode” from March 28 to 30. Mr. Rajapaksa will chair the session on March 30, with the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Thailand joining him virtually. Myanmar’s Foreign Minister will speak at the session, officials in Colombo said. 

This is the first time that Mr. Modi — joining the event virtually — will be at a forum that includes the military junta-run “State Administrative Council” (SAC). External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, following his Maldives stop, will participate in the BIMSTEC ministerial meeting in person, during his visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 to 30.

As BIMSTEC’s current chair, Sri Lanka’s decision to invite a top junta official followed Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris’s visit to New Delhi in February, when he consulted with the Indian Government, and other members Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand.

Last year too, Colombo invited Myanmar’s junta-appointed Foreign Minister _ just over a month after the military’s power grab in Yangon — for the virtual meeting of the regional body, sparking criticism from pro-democracy activists in Myanmar.

Commenting on the scope of the summit, Mr. Colombage told The Hindu that BIMSTEC must now “walk the talk” on regional cooperation. “We need more travel options, people to people connectivity, economic engagement, and trade among members. We have been talking for too long,” he said.

The MEA did not respond to requests for a comment on the inclusion of Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin to address the group virtually, an apparent departure from the line taken by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that decided in February not to invite the Foreign Minister to its retreat. It asked Myanmar to send only a “non-political” representative. Significantly, Thailand is a member of both ASEAN and BIMSTEC, and its participation at the summit will be watched closely.